Home
by Nitile
Summary: As they say, home is where the heart is. Ravio/Link. Rating is subject to change.


**GUESS WHO FINALLY BEAT THE GAME.**

**THAT'S RIGHT, THIS GUY.**

**Aah, I can't believe I ended up loving these two as much I do.**

**Phew, it's been a while since I've written something over 1k words, let alone something with multiple chapters, so bear with me on this one.**

****_Revised this a bit_—Thank you, Judithan, for pointing out my dumb mistake. I completely forgot about that.**

**I hecked up. **

* * *

Lorule's healing process was slow, but sure. Both the land and people were still broken, but in time they would be fixed. Neither Ravio or Hilda could fathom how long it would be before Lorule was whole once more, but they looked to the future with hope. After Lorule's Triforce had been restored, Hilda returned to her princess duties with a new frame of mind and Ravio to his.

The boy's duties were insufferably simple. For the most part he stayed in house and visited the castle once a day to see if Hilda needed assistance with anything. Hilda offered him a position as a Lorulian guard, but he declined, deciding that just wasn't the job for him.

Ravio stayed clear of the town, which was still filled with hostile citizens predictably confused about recent events. The masked followers still insisted their fragmented kingdom was doomed despite Princess Hilda's assurement otherwise. Ravio, naturally wanting to avoid any trouble from them, stayed in his home only to leave for the castle. He slept in until late noon and once he woke up, he immediately went to Hilda. Though he had vowed to break away from his sedentary lifestyle he lived while in Hyrule, this routine lasted a solid year.

One day he had left the castle early— early being used loosely. It was well past midnight, but for one who typically came home at the first sign of dawn, that was pretty early for him. Aside from the fact that Ravio had little-to-no work at the castle, his thoughts were scrambling endlessly and he needed time alone to sort them out. When he returned home, instead of going inside, he went to the bottom of the bluff on which his house sat. There was a rift connecting Lorule and Hyrule once there; he saw Link exit and return through it several times and the now-sealed fracture had left a scar in the crag.

Ravio wondered how Hyrule was doing- well - no. That wasn't really true. He was certain Hyrule was going along just fine. He wondered how Link was doing. He wondered if he had started serving under Princess Zelda, or if he went back to doing whatever it was that he did. On that thought, the realization that he didn't know Link's occupation came upon him. That was a shame. He regretted not getting to know Link as well as he could have.

There was no way back to Hyrule. The bracelet he gave Link was effectively destroyed when Hilda used the last of its power to return him and Princess Zelda.

He wished for a way back to Hyrule to see Link just once more, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why their two worlds couldn't be connected in some way.

"You miss them too, huh?"

Breaking his train of thought, Ravio quickly spun around to face the voice that had spoken to him. In front of him stood Princess Hilda, giving him an ever-solemn gaze with just a twinkle of sympathy.

"Your Highness, I—" he began frantically, "What in Gods' name are you doing out here?"

"There was once a gateway to Hyrule right there, right?" she asked, clearly avoiding his question, "A portal right beneath your home."

Ravio replied glumly with a mumble, "It led to his home, too."

"Is that so?" Hilda said as she forced a smile in an attempt to help ease Ravio's pain, "Hyrule and Lorule truly are exceptionally similar."

"Yet me and Link seemed so different," he continued to mumble, "I wonder if we shared anything in common."

The princess' smile faded away with Ravio's mutters. She walked closer to him and placed an empathetic hand on his shoulder. "It is very unfortunate the doors to Hyrule were closed, for I would have liked to properly thank Princess Zelda myself."

"Your Highness, why?" he sighed, "Why couldn't there have been just one more rift left open? Why can't we ever meet?

She shook her head, pain forming in her eyes, as well. "Perhaps it was just not meant to be." her voice trailed off as she placed her palm against the sealed crack in the rock, "Hyrule and Lorule were meant to stay parallel."

The words Ravio wanted to say stayed stuck in his throat and he stared at the crag with a dejected expression. Hilda shared the same look and stood beside him with nothing more to say. While the two cared deeply for their Lorule, they both had a desire to enter Hyrule. Although they had different motives in that, their wish was mutual all the same.

"It is late," Hilda said after a while, "I will be returning to castle now."

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Your Highness." Ravio replied, not once tearing his gaze from the former rift.

"Please sleep easy, Ravio." she said gently before turning around and heading back in the direction of Lorule Castle.

* * *

Ravio had awoken earlier than usual that morning, probably because he actually slept before the sun made its appearance. Although he didn't really wake up on his own. What brought him into the world of consciousness was a small but nonetheless loud commotion happening outside his house.

Curious and slightly annoyed, he poked his head out a window to see what was happening. Below his house were two people from the town having an overwrought conversation.

"You shoulda seen it! It was unbelievable!"

"You're right. I don't believe you."

"I'm being serious, there's something behind that boulder! It's like a cave or something but it's glowing!"

"Maybe there was a fire in there."

"No, no! It was glowing _golden_!"

A golden-glowing cave? Ravio's hopes thrived within him and now excited and fully awake, he lifted his hood up and practically sprinted from his house and down down the hill.

"Excuse me," he eagerly interjected, "might I ask what you two are talking about?"

One of the men immediately replied with "No." while the one that had been telling his story broke in enthusiastically with "Of course!"

With eyes alight, the man retold his story to Ravio, "...And there's a rock wedged in the cave, but you can still see golden beams shining from the cracks!"

"Can you tell me where this cave is?" he asked with bursting anticipation.

The man was taken aback by the seemingly gratuitous interest Ravio displayed, but was willing to tell him in spite of that. "It's all the way out in the swamp to the south. It's impossible to miss."

"Thank you! Thank you so very much!" As he shouted that, he grabbed the man's hand, which caused a perturbed expression to form on his face, and shook it delightfully.

_Of course_ he would go searching for the cave immediately. He just had to remind himself not to let his hopes get too high. Even so, if this mysterious speleothem was not what he thought it was, he'd probably cry, in all honestly. This was the only glimmer of hope left of reuniting with Hyrule's hero and he prayed to every Goddess that this was truly a door to Hyrule.

* * *

He couldn't explain why it was that he had an overwhelming desire to see Link again. He couldn't care less about Hyrule's well-being nor the Princess' for that matter. Not to say he didn't respect either of them, but the true reason he was so anxious to return to Hyrule was undoubtedly to see Link. The boy who had inspired him and awakened courage within Ravio. He longed to look into those deep ocean eyes, if for just one more time. He had unstoppable avidity to tell him just how much he admired him. He wanted to ask him questions, personal questions, become his _friend._ To put it simply, he was truly magnificent in Ravio's mind.

None of that would get done if he didn't stop daydreaming and get a move on to the swamp to check that cave out.

Predictably, Ravio had skipped out on going to Lorule castle. Some thought inside caused him to decide against telling Hilda of the information he heard. Also just in case the information he was given happened to be false or not what he hoped. Better to only break one heart and not two.

The travel was long and tiring, but the thought of returning to Hyrule dulled the pain in Ravio's feet and urged him to keep going. Fortunately, the means of getting there were a lot easier than it would have been just a year ago. Ever since the Triforce was recreated, the land of Lorule slowly started to drift back together. Although there were still gaps that separated areas, they became close enough that all that was required to pass was just a jump, sometimes a hearty leap. The monsters that roamed Lorule had also either disappeared or became less hostile. Instead of attacking any passersby, they sat or grazed at the ground and minded their own business, which was especially good for Ravio since he wasn't exactly an adept fighter and any weapons he once possessed were sold to Link.

(He wondered if Link still had those items.)

Once musty air invaded his nostrils, a clear sign he made it to the swamp, his feet wept for alleviation. No longer being able to endure his fatigue, he flopped backwards onto his butt and hung his feet off a near ledge. Traveling this far was harder for him than usual, probably because he hadn't been getting proper rest as of late. Really, any sleep he got wouldn't have really counted as _sleep_, more like naps.

While he sat to rest his sore limbs, he took the time to scan the area. He caught a glimpse of murky water ahead, he could also see one of the bridges was broken, but not a single cave. Of course, he had just barely entered the swamp, so it was too early to give up searching.

As he made his way further into the swamp, gingerly crossing the unstable bridges that hadn't been maintained in Gods know how long, and even slipped into roily water a couple times, he found himself at a midpoint spot where he could see most of the swamp and search around. He spun as he scanned the area, walked to the ledge of the land, squinted his eyes, yet found no sign of a cave that supposedly glimmered gold. He was unable to find a cave at all, for that matter. He truly didn't want to believe he was given false information or the man had been hallucinating, but things weren't looking good for him.

_...No, no. That's not the way to think._ If Link had shown him anything (which he did and he did a lot), it was to never give up so easily. The green-garbed boy would sometimes return to his home and tell Ravio how difficult his journey would be, often say how he wanted to give up, but knew he couldn't.

If Link could continue stride through the most difficult situations, Ravio could definitely find some cave.

Funny, though. Almost as if the Gods above were waiting for him to come to that valiant conclusion, something glittered in the corner of his eye almost immediately after. When he turned to see what it was, all that was missing was the harp music and angelic choir.

In the near distance, he could see a rock protruding from what he surmised to be a cave and light beams the color of the sun peeking through the cracks. Despite the numbing in his limbs from his exhaustion, the sight sparked new energy within him, and with a yell for joy, he made his way to his destination. Of course, maneuvering a way around the swamp was never a simple task and in order to get to where he needed to be, he had to walk through calf-deep through swamp water. At the moment, however, muddy shoes and dirtied robe ends were a small price.

The sight of the cave became even more glorious as he drew closer to it.

Around the edges of the rock were connected polygons in several dull colors, like fading chalk— which meant it might have been a remnant from when Yuga attempted to oust Hilda— which meant Ravio might not have been able to pass through it.

No harm in trying.

It was right about then he regretted not giving Link a refund on some more important items, like bombs. Ravio tugged on segments of the boulder, but to no success. All he could accomplish was losing his grip and falling backwards onto his rear and breaking a couple nails. Maybe he should have thought ahead and stopped by the bomb-flower garden.

Just one hard tug—

"Ravio."

The first segment of boulder came loose, but he came down with it and the heavy rock pinned him down by his abdomen. Flat on his back and on the ground, Ravio saw a familiar face staring down at him.

_Oh. Uh-oh._

"P - Princess!" he gasped in complete shock as he pushed the boulder off his body and sprung up on his feet, standing straight up with his face paler than usual, "What are you doing out here?!"

"You didn't show up to the castle today," she began, cocking her brow, "I was worried, but talk of a strange cave was within my earshot, so I figured you might have been here."

She figured right.

"You came here without informing me, which worries me more," she continued with a now sullen voice, "Did you not want me to know about your return to Hyrule?"

"No, no, no, no, of course not, Your Highness!" Ravio panicked, "I was meaning to tell you, really! I just wanted to see it for myself first!"

Hilda graced him with a small grin, though soon disappearing. "This means you want to return to Hyrule…?"

Right away, Ravio caught on to her fears. Respectfully, he kneeled down on one knee and bowed his head.

"Only for a little bit, Your Highness," he assured her, "Lorule is my home and I wouldn't think on abandoning it. You don't have to worry and I beg for your permission to go."

Almost comically, the other fragments of the boulder came tumbling from the cave's entrance and knocking Ravio over onto his stomach. He groaned, only to be cut off by Hilda's soft laughter.

That was something he hadn't heard in so long.

Hilda extended a hand to assist Ravio up, to which he accepted out of respect. He looked down at her, confused by the smile she was sporting at that point, though relieved.

"To be honest, I'd go with you if I could," she said, "However, that's not possible at the moment, I'm sure you know."

_Wait. Did that mean..._ "Are you saying…" The anticipation boiling inside him was becoming almost unbearable.

"Yes. You can go."

He jumped for joy. After he skipped a circle around Hilda, he gently grabbed her hands and said a hundred thank-yous, quite literally. "I'll return soon, Your Highness!"


End file.
